Name:	lucky67 -	Reply
Subject:	alabama
Date:	3/15/2016 2:52:44 PM

Friday, November 20, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R) announced that Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted October unemployment rate is 5.9 percent, down from September’s rate of 6.0 percent, and below October 2014’s rate of 6.2 percent.

Gov. Bentley said in a statement, “More jobs are being created, Alabama’s unemployment rate continues to drops and our economy is growing.  The wage and salary employment is at its highest level for the year.  It has not been this high in almost seven years.  We are one step closer to full employment, and my effort to create jobs will continue until every Alabamian who wants a job has an opportunity to have one.”

AGAIN I ASK, IF ALL IS SO GOOD--WHY IS STATE BROKE ALL THE TIME ?????

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	alabama
Date:	3/15/2016 2:58:22 PM

You know why.  Nothing has changed.

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	alabama
Date:	3/15/2016 3:22:24 PM

Because like the federal govt, the problem isn't with revenue.  It's with spending.  The difference is that states can't print money so they either come up with the money through taxes or debt and usually a combination of the two.  It's all about the spending......

Name:	GoneFishin -	Reply
Subject:	Explain
Date:	3/15/2016 4:30:06 PM

AL is run by the Right. Gov, House, and Senate are all Republicans. Now, you are always telling us how the liberals are destoying the country, no jobs, Obamacare, spending, the list goes on. Explain why the Right, in control of Alabama, is unable to control spending? 

Name:	wix -	Reply
Subject:	Hand up--let me answer, let me answer-Mr. Goofbutt
Date:	3/15/2016 6:53:52 PM (updated 3/15/2016 7:38:37 PM)

Answer is pretty simple.  Dimiokraps ran the state for over 100 years,  until 6 years ago.  The dimokraps have laws so screwed up that the Republicans can't fix it in short order.  Education funding is way more than necessary, but it's locked in place so it can't be touched.....done by the dimokraps.  Welfare, Medicaid, and other freebies dictated by the dimokrap feds have eaten every dime left in the State budget, so we can't build roads, or any of the needed services.  It all goes to overfunded schools, welfare, Medicaid, EBT, free cell phones, prisons (free food and housing).  Before you go bersherk, Google what I've told you and read up....

Name:	architect -	Reply
Subject:	GF, don't hold your breath
Date:	3/15/2016 8:26:51 PM (updated 3/15/2016 8:34:19 PM)

Surely you don't expect a resonable answer to a reasonable question from this bunch do you?  He!!, they won't even give an unreasonable answer!

LA is in even worse shape...they were driven over the cliff by a idiotic hard right "I really really want to be president" governor and stupidly rigid hard right legislature.  Now the people have elected a moderate Democrat for governor who is trying to bring them back to sanity and out of the hole and the legislature keeps digging deeper.  Guess who will get ALL the blame from most on this forum if the new guy can't turn it around?

Name:	GoneFishin -	Reply
Subject:	Hand up--let me answer, let me answer-Mr. Goofbutt
Date:	3/15/2016 8:45:57 PM

You have had a Right wing nut as Gov since 2003. He tried to raise taxes 1.2 billion but the people defeated it. Don't blame the Dems..the Right has controlled the GOV for past 13 years. You like to jump on me when I blame Bush and you are blaming Dems going back 100 years. You need facts cause your middle school postings are becoming less and less truthful. 

Name:	wix -	Reply
Subject:	Goofbutt
Date:	3/15/2016 9:04:26 PM

The present idiot governor was elected by the dimokrap AEA UNION.  At that time the dimokraps had no hope of electing a dimokrap governor so they pushed the last vestiges of the dimokrap party, the AEA teachers union to campaign for Bentley, a spineless, clueless legislator.  They got him elected and now the AEA is in such bad shape that the head of the dimokraps, Joe Reed, has lost control of his own UNION and it has been taken over by the NEA UNION, the communist controlled dimokrap teachers union.  Is Alabama in bad shape? YES.  Is it the fault of the republicans....NO.

Name:	GoneFishin -	Reply
Subject:	Goofbutt
Date:	3/15/2016 10:50:27 PM

A real man takes responsibility. Who do you blame for the election of Moore? AL is just one screwed up state politically and all your excuses will do nothing to change  the facts.  Face it dude, the Dems are not your problem. The problem is your own party. They are incapable of running the state and congress. You just don't want to admit the truth.

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Easy....
Date:	3/16/2016 8:30:44 AM (updated 3/16/2016 9:09:07 AM)

It's all relative Goofy.  You could have too much spending with a good economy under the GOP or you could have Illinois, et al under Democrats.  The fact is that neither party is really for limited government.  Democrats are just worse.  And in many instances in states in the south it takes a while to undo generations of Democrat party rule......not that they have done a great job unwinding it when they have had the time to do so.  So it simply comes down to many Republican office holders are not really fiscal conservatives....but compared to Dems, well, there is no comparison.

Name:	architect -	Reply
Subject:	See what I mean?
Date:	3/17/2016 8:28:36 AM (updated 3/17/2016 8:29:51 AM)

Are apologies and excuses what you were requesting GF?

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	See what I mean?
Date:	3/17/2016 12:24:03 PM

Huh?

I guess I don't know what you mean.  The man expressed an opinion, and other than using the term "Goofy", what do you object to?

Name:	architect -	Reply
Subject:	See what I mean?
Date:	3/17/2016 4:20:17 PM

Mr H, in my "opinion" MM came no where close to answering GF's question of how it is that a state completely under the control of the far right is still in a mess when we are constantly told on this forum that such a conservative government is all we need to, shall we say, "make America great again".  MM gave us excuses and apologies still blaming everybody but the people now running things for the fact AL is in a mess. I will answer the question...AL is in a mess because the nuts now running things from the sherriff's office to the Capitol to the Supreme Court have gone as far as they can to put their far right philosophy in place and these very actions have royally screwed up the state.  Now the folks such as MM and the T party crowd and religious nuts want them to go even further, but the "leaders" have enough sense to realize if that move even further to the right the business community and the majority of citizens who are not to the right of Atilla would revolt!

LA is much worse, GA and NC are barely marginally better off when it comes to so called "leadership".

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	See what I mean?
Date:	3/17/2016 4:55:39 PM

Well, I disagree, because to me, in spite of the letter behind their name, they are not conservatives, but instead they act like a bunch of democrats.

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	See what I mean?
Date:	3/17/2016 6:05:19 PM

I love how you liberals like to sit back and tell republicans who to nominate, who to vote for yada yada ad nauseum. Before you try to analyze Alabama politics maybe you should do a little research. Alabama isnin the mess we are in because of hr legacy of 100 years of democrats. Moreover much of our problems today stem from past action by dems who sold their soul, and votes, to the AEA. They bought the dem controlled legislature and in return held sway over all things politic for decades. Me and my dad used to discuss this back in the early 80's. Today the education slush fund, err I mean trust fund is over funded by 100's of millions. They are so flush that a couple of years ago the legislatures borrowed 800 million to plug a whole in the general fund. So the taxpayers are on the hook for "borrowing" our own damn money. Education is over funded while the general fund is depleted. I forget how much we are paying in interest each year but it is substantial enough to fund some departments.

You are deranged and need help. You come across as an angry bitter old fool. The fact that every rant includes a slam on the tea party. You support "climate change" because 97% of "scientist" agree it is real. Here's a consensus for you, I will bet that 97% of forum members find you obnoxious, borish, hateful, blissfully ignorant and downright intolerable. Its a consensus so it MUST be true.

Name:	architect -	Reply
Subject:	See what I mean?
Date:	3/17/2016 8:01:18 PM (updated 3/17/2016 8:04:06 PM)

I love the way you conservatives sit back and call anyone who is not in lockstep agreement with them liberal!  Most of us you so condemn are liberal on some things and conservative on others...you know something else, so are most Americans.  The opinions of white men in central AL do not a nation make...let us all give thanks!

Your post demonstrates that you have almost as much compassion and love and understanding in your heart as MM for all of humanity, even the people who disagree with you.  Thank you for your lovely and reasoned response.  God bless you.

Oh BTW, do you actually believe education in AL is overfunded?  I think even a few white men in central AL might take issue with that!

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	See what I mean?
Date:	3/17/2016 9:36:07 PM

If the education fund is overfunded, then what are they doing with the money.  It's certainly not flowing to the schools.  If it is overfunded, why are the schools so poor?  I know a number of people who have lived here, moved away and came back that are appalled at the schools here.  Only one school in Huntsvile and one in Birmingham regularly show up as highly rated.  How many national merit scholars is Alabama turning out?  What percentage of the students here are going to the top universities? 

So if they are not spending it on education, where does that money go?  I seem to recall they transferred a bunch of money last year from the education fund to the General Fund.  Why can't they get control of the budget?  It's ridiculous to point the finger at previous governors and legislators.  Does anyone else remember that Bently ran on how great everything was thanks to him and his people, only to annouce that the state was almost bankrupt the day after his swearing in? 

In my view, the problem here is not a particular party, but a history of greedy politicians throwing money to special projects where they get the biggest kickbacks.  What happens in this state is shameful. 

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	See what I mean?
Date:	3/18/2016 8:24:24 AM

All excellent questions Hound and I don't have specific answers for you but you are working on the premise that more money equal better results. A complete fallacy. I can't give specifics off the cuff but there are studies out there show some poor schools excell and some rich ones fail. As for the how and why it goes back to democrat control and the AEA that bought them off. Back in the 90's there were several years that the education budget got prorated, and school boards screamed. They lobbied and got the education trust fund established that took school funds out of the general fund and into the trust. Supossedly to protect from proration in lean years. They could simply go to the trust for additional funds. Just the fact that there was 800 million  in excess funds in the trust that were able to be loaned the general fund shows that the money is there.

Quality of education has little correlation to money spent. Just as education and intelligence have little correlation. I know some educated idiots and and some guenous dropouts.

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	See what I mean?
Date:	3/18/2016 12:56:45 PM

I'm not sure I can agree with you that more money doesn't equal better schools, at least to some point.  Obviously it is not the only thing, becasue you need good school administrators and good teachers, and a good curriculum.  And yes, there are some poor schools that have benefitted from excellent administrators and produce an exellent results. 

I dont think that education equals intelligence. There are plenty of intelligent people around that have never gone to college.  Years ago, I met a man from Algeria who had no little  education, but he was self educated and was fluent in a lot of subjects and could quote poetry from memory.  He had been trained as a bush fighter.  He was very impressive.  The biggest thing that edcation teaches is a disciplined, organized approach to  thinking and solving problems.  It also broadens your horizons because you are exposed to so many more ideas,, which btw, is what th military teaches as well.  But having an education doesn't necessarily mean that you are smarter.  When I was managing a group of engineers, I felt that I would not hire anyone that didn't have at least a masters in their engineering discipline and for the most part that worked out well.  However, when a man presented himself to me for hire who only had a BS in Biology - I was thinking, no way.  Yet, someone that knew him and I respected talked me into hiring him to do electronics engineering, I have to say that he could think and produce beyond many of the better educated engineers. 

College is not for everyone. Look at all the people who learn things not from books, but from hands on training.   Look at how many tradespeople never went to college and know more about their trade than anyone with the a degree.  The man that I hire to do a lot of projects around my house didn't go to college, but he certainly excels in the more manual trades.

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	See what I mean?
Date:	3/18/2016 1:39:32 PM

My dad hated recent engineer grads that Kimberly Clark would hire because they could get them cheap. Every one of them came in thinking they were the smartest person in the room. They all had great "book sense" but not a lick of common sense. During one of my summers there working on the dependant student program while I was in college there was a job going on to retrofit and upgrade a section of the plant. There was a 350lb iron worker on the job. He was sitting on a brace that eventually would hold 4 inch steel pipe. The engineer kept getting bigun to measure different aspects. Bigun finally got tire of be interrupted and ask him what he was doing. He said he had to make sure the brace would hold the weight. Bigun ask how much weight and was told 160lbs. Bigun just laughed along with several others who were around including me.  He got riled up and wanted to know what was so funny. Bigun looked down at him and said I'm nearly 400lbs so I think you're in good shape. Poor guy blushed and stormed off.

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	See what I mean?
Date:	3/18/2016 4:29:21 PM

As anyone who has worked with engineers knows, they always think they are the smartest people in the room.  But they seem to have a hard time communicating with non-engineers, a lot of time they can't figure out to organize and present data so that it is easily understood by non-engineers, and if you ask them them time, they'll tell you about the history of time and how to build a clock.

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	See what I mean?
Date:	3/18/2016 8:16:56 PM (updated 3/18/2016 8:17:42 PM)

Not to mention arcs, mass, momentum, analog resistance curves, gear ratios....oh, wait...it is a sliver of Quartz, frequency division, integrated circuits, yadayadayada...:-)

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	MARK THIS ONE ON YOUR CALENDARS!
Date:	3/18/2016 8:20:23 PM (updated 3/18/2016 8:21:15 PM)

Hound and Lifer had a civil exchange!!